Infected
by Electronic-Star
Summary: Sora and Kairi fight their way through Runners, Stalkers and Clickers to get to a save place. [Character death]


_Sora's bitten by a zombie and has to be put down by Kairi / Last of Us AU_

**Infected**

Kairi went right behind Sora, both armed to the teeth. On their journey to a save place, they lost their best friend Riku and now it's just the two of them...They didn't even know if he's still alive since they were separated while running away from infected people. But if he's still alive, they'll definitely meet him there.

Their last place was contaminated with fungal spores. Many people were infected by this and the ones who could get out safely headed to the same place. It was once called 'Radiant Garden' but after this virus broke out the town wasn't as radiant anymore. Now people just called it 'Hollow Bastion'.

Many things have changed since the outbreak..."I hope Riku's okay..." Mumbled Kairi, who's watching their backs. "I'm sure he's okay. And I bet he's already waiting for us to catch up." His confidence made her feel a bit better. But that quickly changed again, when Sora suddenly stopped and held her back. Looking back to her he put a finger on his lips, silently telling her to be quiet, and pointed ahead.

Clickers...Gripping her gun in her right and a knife in her left tighter, they crept forward through the gardens of the abandoned houses. As long as they won't notice them, they could go through without a fight. They just had to be quiet and watchful. Plus this way they wouldn't break their knifes and baseball bats after attacking them.

It always sent shivers down her spine seeing the infected and being so close to them. At least they couldn't detect them because of this.

Sora peaked around a fence and tensed. Seeing his reaction, Kairi was afraid to know what's on the other side of the fence. Then he turned back to her. "Stalkers." He whispered as quiet as possible to not alert the Clickers. So things wouldn't go as easy as she hoped. Going around Clickers was risky, but definitely easier to avoid than Runners and Stalkers.

And now that she knew what's awaiting them there, she could hear faint groaning after the clicking noises. If they could take them out quietly they could go on without much trouble. Hopefully. Nodding at each other, the two young adults slowly sneaked up to the stalkers that faced away from them.

Once they're close enough they rammed their knifes in their throats. They've been through this a lot lately, plus they had lots of training over the years and had planned out strategies for every infected one. Pulling the knife out of the dead body, they moved on to the next one. They had to part ways to cover larger areas. Maybe they could even find some supplies lying around here.

While she tried to avoid another Clicker, she accidentally knocked over a flowerpot that earned herself the attention of every single infected around. Kairi was barely able to take out the nearest Clicker with her pistol and seconds later she was surrounded.

They were all running towards her and Kairi knew that she didn't have enough ammo for everyone...But then another gunshot on the other side of this garden got their attention and they immediately ignored her and ran towards the sound.

Sora's taken his shotgun to be as loud as possible to pull their attention away from her. As grateful as she was, she still thought he was being an idiot to do this. While they ran towards Sora, who's climbed on a roof, Kairi quickly grabbed her bow and took out as much infected as her arrows lasted.

At some point she grabbed at air when all of her arrows where gone and there were still so many left. And the infected weren't stupid either, as they all successfully climbed up the roof to get to Sora. And of course he had to keep shooting at them, attracting even more infected to his position.

Then one of the infected managed to climb up to the roof on a side where Sora couldn't see it. After putting away the bow, she quickly grabbed her sniper rifle to help him. "Sora!" She called, before shooting a bullet through the Stalkers head. And of course the sound of both her voice and the gunshot got the attention of the infected.

Now some were on her way to her and the rest were still after Sora. "Oh man..." After putting the rifle back behind her back, she ran towards the next house. Kairi wasn't as good at climbing houses as Sora, so she used to run up the stairs and climbed from the highest window she could spot up to the roof.

And that's what she did now, too, the only exceptions were her shooting or stabbing a few infected on the way.

Once she was on the roof, she began to help Sora killing the infected surrounding them. The good thing was that she could see the end of it. But of course fate wasn't on their side...When Sora shot another Stalker that ran towards him, he misstepped and fell off the roof. Right into a bunch of infected.

"Sora!" The redhead didn't have much time climbing down the roof, so she recklessly jumped down, rolling over to cushion her fall. And she was lucky enough to not hurt herself. Bad. Of course it still hurt when she hit the ground, but she didn't care at this moment she just needed to save Sora.

With the pistol in hand, Kairi ran towards Sora —as best as she could with a sprained ankle— and shot at every infected that wanted to attack her or Sora. Most of them were headshots and it did make her be proud of herself. Then a click told her that there weren't any bullets left. But she did have a joker left.

She still had her baseball bat left and with that she smashed the infected's heats. And she was extremely lucky that it broke after she killed the last one that was about to bite Sora. He was able to hold him away till she arrived.

They both sighed in relieve once this was over. Kairi sat down next to her friend, exhausted. "We did it."

"_You_ did it, Kairi. You saved me. That was amazing." Sora, who still lay on the ground, grinned at her brightly while Kairi looked away, flustered and blushing. "Maybe next time we should run away. I don't have any ammo left."

"Yeah, maybe we should..." Letting out a hearty sigh, they both took their time to recover. Everything was silent, so there were no more infected nearby to cause them any trouble. In this time Kairi bandaged her sprained ankle, being glad that this was the only injury she got after jumping off a roof.

Now that she thought about it...it was really crazy of her to do that. Maybe seeing Sora in danger made her irrational. Not to mention extremely reckless. "Are you okay?" Asked Kairi, implying on his fall.

"Oh, yeah. I fell on something soft." Nodding, the redhead looked around the dead bodies all over the garden. "We should get going. We're almost there, right?" Sora nodded and slowly stood up. "Yeah. We should hurry up, before it's getting dark."

Kairi accepted Soras hand and let him help her up. "How's your ankle? Can you walk?" The redhead put some pressure on her injured ankle. It hurt, but she should be able to keep going. "It's gonna be okay."

"Okay. But tell me when you need a break." Kairi just nodded and followed him through the gardens.

When they left the town behind themselves and walked through the forest, Kairi noticed that the boy's holding and scratching his upper arm occasionally, as if he did hurt himself. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? What's wrong with your arm?" She eventually asked.

"Oh, uh...Maybe I did hurt myself a bit when I fell off that roof." He mumbled and stopped to look at it. Sora pulled up the sleeve and froze, making Kairi wonder how bad his injury was. "...what?" The redhead asked when he didn't say anything.

The silence made her crazy and let her think of every possible injury Sora could've gotten. "Tell me." She eventually demanded, watching his expression turn sad. "You know the way to Hollow Bastion?"

"Yes...?" Sora sighed and looked up at her now. "You have to go on without me." The redhead couldn't believe what she heard, but her answer came fast. "No." Then his eyes became more desperate. "That wasn't a question, Kairi. You need to go." Kairi glared at him, standing her ground. "And I tell you no, I'm not going anywhere without you."

Sora sighed and for a moment she thought she won, but his expression told her no. "You really need to go on without me, Kairi." He paused and Kairi wanted to use it to tell him that she won't ever leave him, but she was silenced when she saw him crying. "What's wrong Sora? Please just tell me!"

"...Kairi, can you do me a favor?" Kairi frowned at the change of topic, but nodded. "Anything."

"Promise me you'll do it for me." He was stalling...And all this just because of an injury on his arm? How bad was it now? "Sora..."

"Please." He interrupted, grabbing her shoulders and looked at her pleadingly. "Please, Kairi." It obviously meant a lot to him, so she gave him her word. "I promise." Sora nodded and rubbed the tears away. "Kill me." He said these words loud and clear, but Kairi still wasn't sure if she heard him right. "W-what?"

"You have to kill me." To emphasize his words, he thrust his pistol in her hands. "What?! No, I won't do it!"

"You promised! You said you'd do anything!"

"Yeah, anything but that! Why are you saying this all of a sudden?! We're almost there! We're almost save!" The brunette shook his head, smiling sadly. "There's no saving me." He mumbled, before finally showing her his arm. But now she wished she hasn't seen it. "No..."

"Kairi..."

"No!" Letting the pistol fall to the ground, Kairi grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to examine the very nasty bite wound. "Nonononononono!" She tried rubbing at it with a shredded cloth, hoping it's not a real one. Yep, Sora really made her irrational. "Ow, Kairi!" Sora cupped her face in his hands and made her look at him.

"It's a bite wound." He confirmed her suspicion, saying exactly what she didn't want to hear from him. "No..." Kairi saw the wound, saw how bad it looked, but she still didn't want to believe it. Everything was fine a few minutes ago! "I'll turn into a Runner in a few hours." He continued, while she shook her head and closed eyes and ears to not face reality.

But he took her hands away from her ears to make her listen. "I'm infected, Kairi." The redhead tried to hold it back as best as she could but now the tears, that gathered in her eyes since she saw his wound, fell.

She felt him hugging her tightly and it made her sob against his chest. "I know I'm asking too much from you...But I need you to kill me." Again, she shook her head at his request, gripping at his shirt for dear life.

"Kairi...I won't be myself tomorrow. I don't wanna hurt you. And I don't...I don't want you to see me like that. So please..."

"No! Stop asking me this!" It's not like she couldn't understand him. She, too, would rather die than turn into one of those, but...She couldn't kill Sora. Not _him_! Kairi was thinking of other ways to help him, even though she knew the virus can't be cured. There was nothing anyone could do to help him.

"I'll let myself get bitten, too." She said, without really thinking about it. "What?! No, you can't!" Yelled Sora and pulled her away at arm's length. "Don't be stupid! Why do you want to give up your life like this?!"

Kairi didn't bother whipping her tears away and just stared at Sora. "Because I love you." Not being able to look at his shocked eyes anymore, she looked down. "I should've told you this sooner...But I was afraid I'm gonna ruin everything."

Sora was quiet for a few more seconds, before the redhead felt him gently putting his hand on her chin to make him look up to him. He looked at her so lovingly that her heart stopped for a second. "That was my line." Then he pulled back into a hug. "How dare you say that before I could do it."

The redhead was unable to talk and just stayed silently in Soras embrace. "I love you, Kairi. And I know you understand how I feel about this bite. I don't wanna turn into one of these things, but I don't think I can do it on my own. Please...Help me with this."

Kairi shook her head again, but this time didn't have any arguments left. She didn't want to live without him, but he didn't want her to die with him. Damn, she'd ask him to do the exact same. But being on the receiving end was so much worse.

"This is all my fault..." She mumbled against his chest, but he shook his head. "It's not—"

"Yes, it is!" She yelled, pulling away to look at his eyes. "If it wasn't for me...It's because of me that the infected attacked us! It's my fault you've got bitten! I should've been more careful..." Sora pulled her back into his arms. "Don't say that. None of this is your fault. Don't ever blame yourself for this. I don't care what happened to me, I'm just glad you're okay. Now all I want is for you to be save."

There really was no saving him. And seeing him turned into a Runner, or being on the other stages would surely break her. Maybe she should fulfill his wish...Even if it's gonna hurt. After giving her a kiss on the cheek, Sora kneeled down to take the gun she dropped. Now he just held it up for her to take it and after thinking for a moment, she did.

"You should take these, too." He gave her all of his weapons then. The shotgun, the few rifles, flamethrower and his backpack with all supplies and ammo. Sora stayed down on his knees and looked up at her. Now she felt like she's carrying more weight on her back. And she didn't mean the additional weapons.

They both took a deep breath when Kairi raised the gun to his head. The spikey haired boy nodded and looked at her reassuringly. "I love you, Kairi." He repeated, before closing his eyes. Swallowing a big lump in her throat, Kairi shut her eyes tightly. "I love you, too, Sora." Her finger twitched against the trigger, before eventually pulling it.

She was prepared of the sound of it, but it still startled her. Probably because she actually did it. Reaching for the bag lying against her leg, she ran away without looking at the dead Sora. Kairi knew if she looked she'd do something stupid. Something Sora wouldn't want her to do. And so she just ran away and only opened her eyes when she turned away from him.

Maybe if she ran all the way she could make it there the same day. Being alone at night in the forest with the possibility of facing infected was very dangerous. Actually, any place was dangerous at night. And at day, too. Okay, everything was dangerous.

After running for...way too long Kairi finally saw Hollow Bastion in the distance. Just a few more meters...Her legs hurt from running the whole time and her sprained ankle was even worse, but now was not the time to rest. She needed to keep going.

And so she mostly limped all the to the city walls, sprained ankle be damned. To be honest she didn't care if this thing's gonna break, as long as she arrived at her destination everything else could fuck off.

"Hey!" Called Kairi as she ran/limped closer to the gates and banged her fist against it. "Open up!"

"Who's there?!" Called a big man with long, dark hair from the other side of the wooden gate. Or rather he stood on a platform at the gate to see her and aimed at her with a rifle. The redhead let Soras bag fall on the ground and raised her hands.

"I'm from Twilight Town." The man looked down at his side and nodded. Then the gates opened and some other guards approached her. Kairi kept her hands in the air, as another gigantic man with shorter, copper locks scanned her. "She's clean." He informed the others. They let her in and Kairi took some time to look around.

She did it, but she couldn't be happy about it. Kairi lost Sora and most likely Riku, too. She was all alone. Was there really a reason to keep living...? Sora wanted her to live, but..."Kairi!" The redhead looked around when she heard someone call her name and seconds later she found herself in someone's arms.

"You're okay!" Now with the voice close to her ear, she finally recognized it. "...Riku...?" He pulled away again and sure enough, it _was_ Riku! "Riku, you're alive!" Happy to see her best friend again, she pulled him back into a hug.

"Yeah, I thought it's over. But I managed to pull through." They were both silent then and it made Kairi remember that Sora won't be able to see him again. "Wait..." Mumbled Riku and Kairi feared what he's gonna say next. "Where's Sora?"

At the mention of his name, the redhead began to cry again. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked and rubbed her back to comfort her. "Did you guys lose each other?" Kairi shook her head against him, holding onto him tighter. "He was...and then...he wanted me to...it's all my fault...!" She sobbed.

"What do you mean?"

"He was infected...Clickers and Runners attacked us because of me." Kairi felt him tense up, but let her continue. "He wanted me to...to..."

"Kill him?" He helped her, while she just nodded. Rikus grip on her tightened slightly, but he did everything to comfort her. "I'm sorry. I know how much he meant to you."

"You do?"

"Sure. I knew it for years. And I know I'm not Sora, but I'm still here for you." Ugh, she didn't deserve such a good friend. Actually, after all these years together she already saw him —and Sora— as family. "Thanks, Riku. You're the best friend anyone could ask for."

"I know." He said jokingly and then surprised her by picking her up bridal style. Even with her bag and all the weapons she still carried on her back! "W-what are you...?"

"Do you think I didn't see you limping? You should let someone check on that injury." Then Riku even picked up Soras bag, too! Jeez, he _was_ really strong..."Thank you..." She mumbled as he carried her deeper into town. "No problem. Now that Sora's gone I have to protect you from now on."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know. But Sora won't ever forgive me if I let anything happen to you. So I rather fight with you than with Sora in the afterlife." Kairi giggled at the thought, but it still made her sad. And it'll keep making her sad, but at least she wasn't alone...

"And don't you dare blame yourself for this." More tears fell at his words and Kairi hid her face in his chest. "But it was my fault. They wouldn't have attacked us if it wasn't for me." The redhead felt his grip on her tighten slightly. "I'm sure it was an accident. Sora doesn't blame you for this either, so don't say this ever again."

"How do you know that?" Riku huffed, but his voice lost the stern tone and returned to normal. "Because I know him. And he wouldn't blame you for anything. Now shush and stop thinking this bullshit." Kairi wasn't sure if she could ever forgive himself...But the forgiveness of both Riku _and_ Sora may be a little start.


End file.
